Chapter 194: Chapter 194: Descending Into the Well
Translator: 549690339
“Are you okay?”
Just as Han Dong returned to the alley, a spider’s shadow dropped from the sky.
When the shadow landed, it transformed into Mia, with her slender figure and half-mask.
“Nothing… just some side effects from the Fate Space. What about your inspections? Anything around the well?”
“Yes… a lot of hair.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ll know if you come and see.”
Mia tried to hold Han Dong’s hand, but recalled some of the overbearing words Han Dong said on the carriage earlier, so she drew back her hand.
When they came out of the alley, the ground had been turned upside down by the team, removing a layer of soil.
In the lower layer of soil, a great deal of black hair was ‘growing’, rooted in the soil as though it were a seedling and in time, would grow out of the ground.
The well water was not the only thing affected by the hair.
The area around the stone well was also affected – the situation was far worse than the task description.
Staring at the large quantity of strange black hair that was rooted in the soil like plant seedlings, blacksmith Winry was terrified and insisted to stay with her teammates, refusing to let her shoes touch the hair.
At this time, Dumps who was crouching in the corner used a unique magic technique to draw out a string of black hair about half a meter long from the soil, spreading it perfectly on a piece of white paper he was carrying.
Analyzing the black hair with a magic array.
As the mini formation on the paper started, filaments of impurities from the hair were extracted. Following that, the hair disintegrated.
“There should be a medium or high-level Evil hidden underneath the well.”
Abe furrowed his brows, “Medium or high level Evil? And we are required to enter its lair. That definitely warrants a three-star difficulty.
Moreover, this kind of ‘Evil’ that form from hair should be a rare species, right?”
Dumps, adjusting his wire-rimmed glasses, nodded:
“It’s rare… most Evils from corpses are predominantly made of bones! Hair is extremely rare, and it could possibly be related to something else. If we recklessly go down the well before we confirm what’s there, we may cause mass pollution.”
Abe turned his head to look at Han Dong and Mia who had just returned.
“Miss Mia, I implore you to produce a sufficient amount of mind-clearing potion… The team might use a lot of it soon.”
Then, Abe turned to Han Dong:
“Nicholas, are you feeling alright?”
“I’m fine.”
“That’s good… But I’m somewhat puzzled.
Why did we choose a high-difficulty basic task to begin with? You must have noticed my relationship with Aunt Bardot. She could have reserved all tasks for us.
For safety’s sake, wouldn’t it be better if we picked the least difficult Scarecrow task first, allowing us to adapt and warm up… and then touch on this high-difficulty task afterwards?”
It was clear from Abe’s questions that he had some doubts about Han Dong’s decision.
“Well…” Han Dong cleared his throat slightly, beginning to explain his choice.
“I think that the well and our dwelling’s basement are likely connected.
I even suspect that the entire Stuart Manor, aside from the visible fields, towns, and Castle on the Hill, also has a full-fledged and well-developed underground system.
The ultimate goal of this ‘training’ is to uncover the truth about the manor. If we only wander around the surface, it is hard to touch the origin.
Since our dwelling leads to a strange ‘Corpse Basement’,
our exploration of the manor should also be focused on the underground area.
If we can gradually penetrate and touch the origin of the underground area, the secrets of the manor will be revealed faster.
Since this is the task that I’ve chosen, I will serve as the ‘scout’ and go down the well first to carry out a preliminary exploration.
When I confirm that there is no danger and the pollution is within controllable range, the rest of you can come down.”
Abe immediately countered, “Isn’t it inappropriate for you to go alone?”
“I didn’t introduce my ‘pollution tolerance level’ during my self-introduction… I probably have a [Rational Value] higher than all of you.
Don’t worry, I won’t compromise my own life, just wait for my news up there.”
As soon as Han Dong made his decision, Mia immediately insisted:
“I will go with you! What if the space under the well blocks off signals and communication is cut off? What will we do then?”
“I will tie a resilient Original Spider Silk outside. If there’s any danger, both of us can rely on the spider silk to quickly escape from the well,” I said.
Abe thought the suggestion was good. “Not bad… it’s better to be safe. Let Mia go down with you,” he said.
“Alright.”
This time, Han Dong did not refuse Mia.
The reason was the influence of a previous illusion.
The clown’s warning had definitely had an impact on Han Dong’s decision.
Even if he could be immune to pollution, there still might be dangerous situations that he couldn’t handle on his own.
With Mia, who is also a ‘Second Five Man,’ assisting him, the danger would be greatly reduced.
“Great!” Mia’s eyes widened, and she leaned in towards Han Dong with a broad smile. “When do we set off?” she asked.
“Now.”
Creak, creak!
Everyone worked together to pry open the wooden planks covering the well.
The further down the well they looked, the more severe the decay of the planks became, and black hair became increasingly dense.
Crack!
When the last layer of wood was pried open, it immediately fell into the well.
But there was no sound of water, as if it had been swallowed, indicating an obvious level of danger.
“Try throwing a small kerosene lamp down,” I suggested.
Winry took a spare kerosene lamp from her backpack and handed it to the team leader.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the lamp was dropped into the well.
First, it illuminated the wet wall, full of black hair.
When it dropped about seven meters deep and was about to hit the surface of the water pond, suddenly…
Whooosh!
A black shadow flashed, and the kerosene lamp disappeared.
“What the hell was that?”
Because it moved too quickly and the light range was limited, almost none of the other team members saw it clearly… However, Han Dong’s Little Demon Eye captured some information.
“Standing up here, I can’t get more information… Prepare to go down into the well,” I said.
Hiss, hiss, hiss…
A spider silk as thick as a finger came out from Mia’s mouth.
The strongest blacksmith, Winry, grabbed it… Using Winry’s strength, the two of them could be easily pulled back up.
The other end of the spider silk hung into the deep well, and they could climb down along it.
“Be careful! If you can’t make any sound, pull the thread hard!” Abe reminded.
“Alright… don’t worry.”
Han Dong was the first one to grab this soft spider silk with a high friction force and slowly slide down.
When his body passed the well’s opening, a damp feeling engulfed him.
“Hmm?!”
The black hair on the surrounding stone walls squirmed slightly, as if they had certain thoughts about the intruder, Han Dong.
“Open Eyes”
Littlle Demon Eye was fully active.
For a moment, the black hair covering the stone walls retreated back into the well like a tide.
Hee, hee…
A woman’s laughter that seemed to emanate from the bottom of the well receded as well.
As Han Dong guessed, there was a relatively spacious underground space beneath the well.
The first investigation task officially began.